Tuesday, 31 January 2012

The first World Championship points for Caterham must be the chief goal of 2012. That is according to Team Principal Tony Fernandes, who is now taking the outfit formerly known as Lotus Racing and Team Lotus into its third season of Formula1.

In 2012, the squad moves from Norfolk to Oxford shire and retains its line-up of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli as well as Renault engines, Red Bull-made gearboxes and stints in the Williams wind tunnel. However, rumours still linger that Trulli might be swapped by Vitally Petrov.

Caterham is the name we will race under for many years to come, but we still have the same DNA we have had since day one, back in 2009, says Fernandes. We are the same team but every day we are growing stronger; what underpin that growth is the people in our team who have been with us since the early days and the people who have come on-board and share our vision. We are still very proudly green and yellow and I think that says rather a lot about who we are.

This year however, with the people and facilities we have in the factory and the wind tunnel - and with KERS.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Growth in China's automobile sales hit the brakes in 2011, data illustrated, after Beijing rolled back sales incentives and some cities imposed limitations on car numbers.

Total sales in the world's largest vehicle market get higher just 2.5 percent to 18.51 million units last year, the China organization of Automobile Manufacturers said, balanced with an raise of more than 32 percent in 2010.The increase was in line with an previous forecast by the industry group for development of two to three percent in 2011.

China overtake the United States to turn out to be the world's top auto marketplace in 2009 as more and more Chinese recognize the middle-class dream of owning their car. Passenger vehicle sales mount 4.6 percent to 1.37 million units last month.

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Owners of the Ford Fiesta and Focus were treated to a weekend of fun learning as Ford brought its global Driving Skills for Life campaign to Malaysian shores for the first time on 17 – 18 December 2011. The programme, which was held at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang , attracted the participation of 84 drivers.

Syllabus of the DSFL programme focuses on four key areas, namely hazard recognition, vehicle handling, space management, and speed management delivered in a combination of classroom and practical training sessions.In the classroom, participants were taught on general safety tips such as seating position, steering control, understeer, oversteer, and driving in various conditions. They were also briefed on Ford-specific safety features that are native to their respective cars.

Adjourning to the practical session, participants went on to practice correct braking techniques for vehicles with ABS, avoidance of obstacles, how the ESP functions, and the slalom course.

Monday, 26 December 2011

It’s funny how things turn out sometimes. In 1973, Caterham, which was founded in the 1960s as a Lotus dealer, acquired the rights to build the Seven from Lotus. Now, Team Lotus has purchased Caterham Cars through a holding company, part owned by Malaysian Tony Fernandes.

Starting from the British GP in Silverstone this weekend, the Caterham logo will appear on the sidepods of both Team Lotus F1 cars. Interestingly, this comes 50 years after Lotus’ first win in a Formula 1 Grand Prix (Innes Ireland in the US GP). Earlier this year, Caterham launched its first new model for 15 years, the sports prototype racing car SP/300.R.

This is a monumental occasion for Caterham Cars. We are a niche low-volume sportscar manufacturer and yet we are now a key partner for a Formula One team with an extremely bright future. In terms of global visibility for the Caterham brand, you don't get much better than Formula One. Caterham has a long and distinguished history in grassroots motorsport but this puts the firm in front of a truly global audience to sit alongside major car brands including Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes-Benz.

Friday, 16 December 2011

Lotus have set an ambitious target of winning the world title by 2014 after signing ex-champion Kimi Raikkonen alongside Romain Grosjean for 2012.The team, who are changing their name from Renault for next season, won titles with Fernando Alonso in 2005-06 but were fifth overall in 2011.Team principal Eric Boullier said: "The plan is to be world champions in two or three years' time."That ambition was behind the decision to change both drivers, he added.The Frenchman, who was speaking at a news conference in Paris, admitted that doing so was "not fashionable" but that it "corresponds to owner Genii's desire to become a top team again".

The Pole was badly injured in a rally accident in February and is still not fit enough to drive an F1 car.The team started the season strongly, with a podium for each driver in the first two races, but Renault then slipped down the field.

They finished the season with 73 points, 92 behind fourth-placed Mercedes, who in turn were 213 behind third-placed Ferrari.Heidfeld was replaced by the Brazilian Bruno Senna for the final eight races, but both Senna and Petrov have been dropped for 2012.Raikkonen, who was dropped by Ferrari in favour of Alonso at the end of 2009, returns after an unsuccessful two years in the world rally championship.Grosjean was dropped by Renault at the same time, after an unconvincing half-season alongside Alonso.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Felipe Massa was not able to celebrate his 100th Ferrari Grand Prix in style, finishing fifth at home track Interlagos on Sunday. The Paulista started seventh and seized two places, but was left to lament a puncture which the team discovered 24 hours earlier.

It was a difficult race at the end of a weekend that was not the best from a technical point of view, Massa began.We never managed to find the right balance and then came the sting in the tail of the puncture we discovered yesterday, which robbed me of a set of Softs for the race and thus meant I had to make only two stops.

I knew it would be penalising because I would have to do a lot of laps on the Medium, a tyre with which we have a bigger performance gap than on the Softs when compared to our closest competitors. Sure, I would have liked to celebrate my one hundredth Grand Prix with Ferrari with a much different result, but I have to accept the way things went.

In fact, the race pretty much summed up the season: reasonably good on the Soft, then struggling on the harder compound. It’s been a difficult year for me and the team and now we can turn the page. We must work on improving the car and I will do all I can never to have such a disappointing season again.